January 13, 1982. So remember that Polar Vortex we experienced last week? Well, imagine being stuck in that with no coat. Add that your clothes (and entire body) are soaked in ice water and that snow is falling hard . . . all this because the plane you were on slammed into a bridge and hit...

Those three words start the piece of paper from which our nation was founded. To be followed by 10 amendments written about a week later plus another 17 throughout two centuries – the last of which was ratified 21 years ago – add to that voluminous Supreme Court cases that have been heard...

A woman. Two men. A scream from a basement hallway. And so his story began. On January 17th 2012, a little baby boy was making his way into this world after a stranger named Moses heard the expectant baby’s birth mother scream from a rooming house on Mt. Pleasant Avenue in Newark. The man...

My father is the man. Lemme splain . . . Issa too mucha, lemme sum uppa. Tonight’s soccer game was a semi-finals match for the CONCACAF Gold Cup. The teams? Honduras vs. USA and my father is an American citizen originally from Honduras. He loves America. He came to the US legally in 1968 and...

I volunteer to teach ESL and have done so for almost five years now. It started in Roselle, moved to Roselle Park, and now has expanded to Elizabeth. Tonight at class we started having our dialogue section where people have conversations. It was in question/answer style with questions such as...

LIVE THE DASH A father of three . . . words I honestly never thought would be used to describe me. So today is Fathers’ Day. For me, today is a day to reflect on fatherhood and all the joys and responsibility that come with that one word – “Dad”. That one word has been used to express...

After 13 years as part of our family, we made the decision to give XiXi, our pet cat, rest after she endured through months of labored discomfort which became a consuming pain. This photo of our hands caressing XiXi was taken just after the moment her existence transformed into a memory. She...

A LETTER TO THE NEW PRAGUE HIGH SCHOOL MARCHING BAND It’s amazing how what we do affects others and the things we think are unimportant, end up having the most meaning. Now, visiting New York City is a highlight for everyone and although I live in the Elizabeth area and love where I live,...

David Mamet, in his offering, “The Spanish Prisoner” has wonderfully performed what is probably the longest con ever perpetrated on an audience – where the viewers themselves, not the film’s character, were the intended mark all along. One of America’s best contemporary playwrights has...